Marauders edged out by Mavericks in tight battle | Boys swimming

Mariner’s Stacey captures 50 freestyle

By David Pan | Dec 19, 2018

Photo by: David R Pan Mariner’s James Smith took second in the 100 backstroke.

Mariner put up a spirited fight until the very end.

In a tight battle that came down to the final race, Meadowdale finished ahead of the Marauders in the 400-yard freestyle relay to pull out an 86-84 victory in a Wesco South boys swimming dual meet Tuesday, Dec. 11, at Lynnwood Pool.

The Mavericks took second in the relay with a time of 3 minutes 52.38 seconds, placing ahead of Mariner, which came in third in 3:54.57. Lynnwood defeated the Marauders 93-77 in the other dual meet of the day.

Marauders coach Jennifer Parker-Angelos was just glad that Mariner (0-5) was in a position to come out with a win against the Mavericks.

“It was down to the last relay,” she said. “We’re still pretty young. We don’t have a lot of seniors. They’re coming along as a team. They’re pulling for each other.”

Mariner’s Jonathan Stacey won the 50 freestyle in 25.20, edging the second-place finisher by .14 seconds. Other standouts for the Marauders included James Smith (second in 200 freestyle, second in 100 backstroke) Gunnar Steen (second in 200 individual medley, second in 100 butterfly), Sam Hernandez (second in 500 freestyle, third in 200 freestyle), Zach Graham (second in the 100 freestyle, second in 100 breaststroke) and Vitaly Krutiy (third in 100 freestyle).

Mariner’s 200 medley relay team of Smith, Graham, Steen and Krutiy (who also are the same four on the 400 freestyle relay) took second place and the 200 freestyle relay squad of Vadim Kukhotskiy, Braiden Skrabak, Krutiy and Stacey also placed second.

What also impressed Parker-Angelos were the performances by some of the freshmen.

“We had kids swimming the 500, who’ve never swam the 500 before,” she said.

The Marauders have a squad of more than 30 swimmers with many of them new to sport.

“They’re great kids,” Parker-Angelos said. “We had good splits and good times.”

Though he didn’t show up high in the results in his individual, Mariner captain RJ Chung played an important role in his team’s success, Parker-Angelos said.

“He just is really motivating for the kids,” she said. “He really gets behind all of them. He does a great job.”

The Marauders resume their league schedule against undefeated Jackson (5-0) on Thursday, Jan. 10, at West Coast Aquatics Pool.